Rebekah Brooks' Story To Be Made Into Feature Length Film

The story of Rebekah Brooks, the former newspaper executive who is to face criminal charges over the phone hacking scandal, is to be made into a feature length film.

Details of the picture focusing on the ex-News International chief executive were announced in Cannes during this year's film festival, The Hollywood Reporter said.

It is in development as one of the first projects of BiteSize Entertainment, a multi-platform entertainment studio unveiled by Ron Bloom, chief executive of online video site Mevio, and producer Gene Kirkwood.

News of the Rebekah Brooks film was announced at Cannes

Brooks publicly stated this week that allegations that she, her husband and four others plotted to hide evidence were "an expensive sideshow and a waste of public money".

The 43-year-old former Sun and News of the World editor and her racehorse trainer husband Charlie were charged following a police investigation into phone-hacking, computer hacking and corruption.

Production company Kirkwood-Elliot has optioned the rights to the Vanity Fair article 'Untangling Rebekah Brooks' by Suzanna Andrews and is now developing the film based around the story.

Kirkwood told The Hollywood Reporter there was not yet a writer, director or talent attached to the film.

He said: "We will make a film and also use it as a porthole into [Rupert] Murdoch's world. She's got a great story. Her rise... is almost like Great Expectations - with a moral."

Brooks and her husband will appear in court in June alongside her former PA, Cheryl Carter and chauffeur Paul Edwards charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Mark Hanna, head of security at News International and security consultant Daryl Jorsling also face single counts of conspiring with her.

Brooks, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, was charged with three counts, including that she removed boxes of material from the News International archive and tried to conceal documents, computers and other material from the multimillion-pound Scotland Yard inquiry.

She became News of the World editor in 2000 aged 31, landed the top job at The Sun in 2003 and was appointed chief executive of News International in 2009 before quitting in July 2011.